Implementation of the trilateral agreement signed in Cordoba last September is now in full swing.

On December 16, the inaugural Iberia flight from Madrid touched down in Gibraltar airport amid much fanfare and under the close scrutiny of the world’s media.

It was the first flight from Spain in nearly three decades, but it was doubly significant because it carried the first serving Spanish minister to visit Gibraltar in a generation.

On the tarmac at North Front, Bernardino León, Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, embraced Chief Minister Peter Caruana and so signalled a new era that would have been unthinkable just four years ago in the shadow of the joint sovereignty proposals.

The buzzwords now are cooperation and understanding on mutually beneficial issues. The promise is of cross-border social, cultural and economic progress. The thorny matter of sovereignty has been set aside, with the core positions of all three sides protected.

Gibraltar is now linked by a scheduled daily return flight to the Spanish capital. By May, a second daily service operated by local airline GB Airways will also be up and running.

The Iberia flights are the most prominent of the changes stemming from the four core elements of the Cordoba agreement, which include expanded airport use, Spanish pensions, telephones and smoother frontier flow.

Yet there is progress too on less visible, though none the less important aspects of the agreement.

Changes to telephony between Gibraltar and Spain are not due to come formally into operation until February, when Gibraltar mobile phone users will be able to roam in Spain, and diallers will be able to use the 350 prefix that Spain had for years refused to recognise for political reasons.

Spanish telephone operator Telefónica has already told clients about the forthcoming changes.

“In compliance with the Spanish Government’s agreement on telecommunications matters, with effect from 10 February 2007, telephone calls destined for Gibraltar should be effected by dialling the international access code ‘00’ followed by the Gibraltar code ‘350’ [and instead of using the current 9567 code] ”, it told customers in a note included with December bills.

Telephone technicians are already at work on either side of the frontier fence. Local mobile phone users have noticed, for example, that they can occasionally pick up signals while roaming in Spain. Sometimes, it is also possible to place a call to Gibraltar using the 350 prefix.

At the border itself, the changes are more evident.

A new two-lane system has been put in place on the Spanish side, ensuring that coaches and cars carrying goods to declare use a separate lane to routine vehicle traffic. The theory is that this will help ease delays and, so far at least, the set-up seems to be working.

Also up and running is the transfer bus for passengers heading to and from La Linea and Gibraltar Airport. Passengers arriving on the bus from La Linea to catch flights to Madrid, undergo security checks at a separate building on the tarmac, already dubbed Terminal 2 by airport workers.

The bus takes about 30 minutes and operates a regular schedule between the La Linea coach terminal and the airport, though some passengers who have used it say it is easier and faster to simply walk across. The key differing factor is that those who opt to use the bus are treated as being in transit and, provided they remain ‘airside’ in the Gibraltar terminal and do not cross Gibraltar’s customs and immigration control points in the terminal, will not normally be subjected to customs and immigration controls in Gibraltar. Those who cross on foot have to undergo the usual checks.

In December the House of Assembly, in its last session before it becomes the Gibraltar Parliament under the new Constitution, approved amendments to existing legislation to enable local customs and immigration officials to waive controls under certain circumstances, namely for passengers arriving in Gibraltar from Madrid but in transit to Spain. Chief Minister Peter Caruana said these administrative waivers would take place “without prejudice” to Gibraltar’s legal ability and jurisdiction to enforce controls at any point. He said the amendments were aimed at providing officials on the ground with “incontrovertible certainty and clarity” as to the waiver system.

December also witnessed the first meeting of the Permanent Joint Liaison Committee, a new forum set up to consider technical issues arising from the implementation of the Cordoba airport agreement. The first meeting took place at the Rock Hotel and reviewed the implementation of the arrangements following the commencement of flights. The Gibraltar Government has already initiated planning and design works for the construction of the new air terminal and these issues were also discussed at the forum. The new terminal will connect directly to the border and it is therefore necessary to coordinate the location with Spanish officials.
Progress is also evident on the Spanish pensions’ issue, with the first payments due to be made in April of this year.

The British Government expects Spanish pensioners to sign up en masse to the settlement offer in the Cordoba agreement and is braced to foot a bill of up to £80m, though officials cannot give an exact figure at this stage.

Affected pensioners have already received letters from the British Government setting out the terms on offer and La Linea’s town council said last month that 600 pensioners had already sought advice on signing up to the deal.

The UK will offer to pay a lump sum to each pensioner in exchange for withdrawing from the Gibraltar Social Insurance Fund and giving up further corresponding claims in relation to it.

The average total lump payment will be about 6200 Euros and will be paid in two instalments, April 2007 and April 2008.

The Cordoba agreement provides a settlement to the long-running issue of pensions paid to Spanish workers affected by the 1969 border closure.

Local pensioners had initially expressed concern about the implications of the Cordoba agreement on their incomes but are now satisfied following news that they will receive a 65.2% increase in their pensions as from April 2007 and that Community Care will remain unaffected.